a few yummies

My sister made the BEST sweet mashed potatoes and I just have to share the recipe with you and you gotta try them... they are divine!! You just boil peeled sweet potatoes in apple juice, drain the apple juice and then mash them up and add brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon to them and serve. SOO YUMMY!!

I also got this yummy recipe from Paula Dean on Food Network that is to die for and surprisingly not as rich as it sounds. You mix a brownie mix as directed and then poor half of the batter into a 9x13 baking dish and then put 3 whole king size Symphony bars (you gotta use the ones with almonds and toffee)down on top of the layer of brownie mix. Then just poor the rest of the brownie mix on top of the candy bars and bake as directed on the brownie mix box. Let them cool if you use the Symphony that has the toffee and almonds in it, that way the toffee isn't sticky and has it's crunch back. You'll want to eat the whole pan!! I'm sure you could use whatever kind of candy bar you want and they would be yummy good.

Chris' family came and visited for a few hours last week, and we had fun catching up! Aniston loved all the attention and I am so glad we were able to see them again since it's been more than 2 months since the last visit.

1st REAL haircut

I decided that I am NOT a "hair cutter" and that my skills are not acceptable, so I took Aniston to my hairdresser and had her do her thing. I love Aniston's new hair do, and she seemed to like it to. When she was finished cutting her hair, Aniston shook her head back and forth like a shampoo model, it was hysterical!!

priceless

3 bottles of acrylic paint at Wally World... $0.97
3 year old sponge paint brushes from who knows where... $1.00
1 boring student apartment bathroom with a little paint to brighten it's day(and mine)....


PRICELESS


And with the rest of the paint, lets have a blast smashing it in our fingers & making a pretty picture, getting it all over ourselves, and smearing it in the bath tub!! There was a huge mess and some stains, but we had fun making a mess.






OUR FIRST SNOW...

BIG GIRL!!

ANISTON IS WALKING!!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween and we got to do some fun things with Aniston. Halloween night was a blast, but it was hard not having Chris there(he had to work). My sister and I took Aniston trick-or-treating in my parents neighborhood and she was a crack up!! I made a broom for her and she wanted to tickle everyone with it. They would open the door and she would shove her broom in their face and say "deddle deddle". She said "trit treat" and "tantie" to the people we went to. We hope all of you had a very Happy Halloween and we hope the coming seasons are full or fun memories!





Look at how much she has grown and changed in 1 year!!



Trick-or-Treating at Aunt Shelbi's work


After Uncle Christian's concert- he's Steve Erkel


carving pumpkins


Halloween party for my parent's ward... my mom made this clown costume for me when I was 2!!

Boo at the Zoo

I took Aniston to the zoo this past weekend for Boo at the Zoo. I will try so hard to be positive in this post, but let me just say... AHHHH it was CRAZY. We live about a mile down the street from the zoo, so I should have walked. I've been sick so I didn't have it in me to tromp up the hill and walk all over the zoo and then walk home. I parked half way between our house and the zoo due to the popular event that it was. We stood in line for about 30 minutes to buy tickets and then could hardly move once we got into the zoo. Aniston screaming the whole way there and getting stung by a bee while we stood in line should have been my clue that it wasn't worth it. So we made it into the zoo and found our way through the mass of people. I was a little bummed that Aniston didn't really get too excited about the animals. The only time she was really excited was when a little monkey came right up to the glass and was checking everyone out. There was a little boy that got in front of her while the monkey was up close, and boy did he make a mistake! Aniston started yelling at him and tried to grab him and pull him out of the way. Poor kid!! What can I say, she's a bit fiesty like her mom. Over all it was not too bad, but I won't do it again probably, unless I have more hands to help with Aniston. She didn't want to sit in her stroller, she wanted to be up with mom checking things out. I think she got a little too overwhelmed by all the people too, I tell ya it was SOO packed and hard to get around with all the people that were there.



The little witch minus her boots. They lasted about 5 seconds and then she was screaming and pulling them off.


Checking out the little monkey.